Gaming Lounge

[Rosencrantz]

The sad thing is that people would actually go for that. The game industry stopped being about "creating the most fun experiences" and turned entirely into a business. If a company wants to cut corners and not use so many level designers (or any at all) and use algorithms for level generation, that's a saved budget. It's a really shitty thing to say, I know, but that's pretty much the truth in the real-world. And it's incredibly sad.



My only defense for the procedurally-created levels, though, is that it's pushing the current limits of game development. We're already entering the development era where we're focusing on voxels and particles (both of which are algorithm-based), and so game devs want to see if they can't push the limits any further by using this procedure-based development for things other than simple cosmetics. Random-generated levels is a great way to really show what a game is capable of, and it definitely will push boundaries if it can get to a point where a randomly-generated level is indistinguishable from a hand-designed level.

Like I said, though, that's my only defense on it. It's still a really stupid cop-out.

[NICKtendo DS]

The sad thing is that people would actually go for that. The game industry stopped being about "creating the most fun experiences" and turned entirely into a business. If a company wants to cut corners and not use so many level designers (or any at all) and use algorithms for level generation, that's a saved budget. It's a really shitty thing to say, I know, but that's pretty much the truth in the real-world. And it's incredibly sad.

This is what made me question wether the game industry is really the place for me, eventhough it is a passion of mine. It truly is a crying shame.
I'm still going for it, though (just got my diploma for Game Art). How I'm going to tackle it, I don't know yet.
It's that 'business mentality' that really drove a spear in my motivation to become a professional game artist.

[Gors]

And that's why I am just the "idea guy".


And to be fair, I don't really mind. I'd like to imagine a place where the things I enjoy making would give me profit AND satisfaction. That seems like a utopia at the moment though, and I don't know if it'll ever change.
Fortunately, I found tSR, which is a good place to let my creative juices flow and I can easily do my stuff without worrying about those serious stuff.

[Mutsukki]

I would like to remind you that the people that are saying that you'll "never need a level designer again", never made any interesting game in the first place (a terrible katamary clone and aaaah! which I don't understand at all).

I'm all for technology and advance. I'm not anti-random level generation. Disgaea did this pretty well with the item world, even if it sometimes (rarely) it ends up being too dificult or impossible. But ditching level designers is almost as bad as ditching artists because you have a computer that does art automatically.

[SKELTON S. SKELETON]

aaa! is an extreme sports game (and a really fun one at a that) that's based on a simulated version of skydiving

[Mutsukki]

I understand the concept, not the appeal. If you say it's fun, I'll have to take your word for it, as I haven't played it. But what I see in screens and videos, is some kind of glorified bland tech demo with no atmosphere, theme, art direction or anything. Didn't catch my attention.

[Kitsu]

Aaaaa! kinda looks like a rail shooter.



... which probably means I would enjoy it haha

[Goemar]

I have no idea what this auto-level-creation wizard's magic is but random level generation does have it's place. Look at Spelunky (well I think it's random) and ToeJam and Earl for examples. As a replacement for level designers and in every game I say nay, but used correctly and in the correct games it can work.

[Keychain]

voper pls

[TomGuycott]

Also known as
The Wrong Reason to Procedurally Generate Levels

On this subject, you know what would be a CRAZY Procedurally Generated level experience? Combining it with the Dark Souls engine, and making a completely random world full of scary, impossible enemies.

Speaking of which, is anyone around level 270 who might want to give me a hand with the Four Kings right now? PM me, I'm suffering here.

[Kami]

It'd have to be a really top notch program for it to executed correctly, and I'd only work well with certain types of games.

[Vipershark]

Also known as
The Wrong Reason to Procedurally Generate Levels

On this subject, you know what would be a CRAZY Procedurally Generated level experience? Combining it with the Dark Souls engine, and making a completely random world full of scary, impossible enemies.

Those already exist. They're called roguelikes :p

[Kitsu]

Yes! Developers are finally aiming at my demographic!

[Kami]

Yesh!

[Saltonara]

Does anybody else have Anarchy Reigns on the PS3? I've had it for a couple weeks, and while I do enjoy the multiplayer, I would like to play with someone I "know". Partially because I'm tired of playing against players in Japan and lagging like shit (though that was to be expected), but also because team-based modes can be... aggravating.

Like this one match I just played, for example (funny how my phone has better quality than my capture card). Granted I only made 2 squad leader kills but the other team's leader got 3 so I feel like it's an approrpiate amount. On top of that, you get points for actually doing stuff, and due to the fact that I got second on the overall scoreboard (I was actually in first, believe it or not, before the bonuses were distributed), I know I was actually pulling my own weight. Of course I'm not "pro" enough to carry my team, and since my team didn't really do much, we lost by quite a bit. Doesn't help that before our Medic left (you're assigned Medic in a Team Battle if you have the lowest score on your team), he had absolutely no idea how to respawn people and I never saw him pull the OA thing out once, meaning we all had to wait 10 seconds or so to respawn and were never healed (though it doesn't heal quickly so healing wasn't as big of an issue). It's actually a good thing he left (when you leave you're replaced by a computer player), because at least the computer player respawns people.